BINARY CHEMICAL WEAPONS

What is the nature of the agreement which has been purportedly reached with NATO concerning the desirability of the United States producing "binary" chemical weapons and deploying them in Europe, given that President Reagan has reported to Congress on the European Allies' "agreement" and Ministers have neither received requests nor been consulted about possible contingency arrangements for the deployment of binary weapons.

A force goal inviting the United States to modernise its chemical weapon stocks with binary munitions has been adopted by NATO's Defence Planning Committee and the United States has briefed NATO's Military Committee on its national plan for the contingency deployment of binary chemical munitions. The Military Committee noted this plan: it was not required to endorse or approve it. The details of this briefing are classified, but the United States plan does not designate any specific country as a destination for receiving binary munitions. The United Kingdom has not been approached about the possible contingency deployment of United States chemical weapons specifically in this country.